Samsung is closer to selling its new Galaxy tablet computer in Australia after a court Wednesday overturned a ruling that sided with Apple’s (AAPL) allegations Samsung had copied its iPad and iPhone.

The Federal Court’s decision is a victory for Samsung in its bitter international patent war with Apple.

The ruling Wednesday said evidence fails to show that the Galaxy tablet infringes Apple’s touch-screen patent and that Cupertino-based Apple would be unlikely to win if the case went to a trial. It blasted the earlier decision in Apple’s favor as “clearly wrong.”

Still, Samsung will have to wait a few more days before it can begin selling the Galaxy, after Apple indicated it would appeal to the nation’s High Court. Federal Court Justice Lindsay Foster agreed to keep the injunction in place until Friday while that issue is pending. .

— Associated Press

Autodesk buys software firm to boost cloud presence

Design software maker Autodesk said it will buy software company Horizontal Systems to boost its presence in cloud-based computing and modeling software.

San Rafael-based Autodesk said the deal should close by Jan. 31, 2012, but the company did not disclose terms of the transaction.

Las Vegas-based Horizontal Systems makes cloud-based design programs called Building Information Modeling. The products are sold to architects, engineers and others in the construction industry.

Autodesk said it will fold Horizontal Systems’ technology into its Autodesk 360 program. Autodesk said its new cloud-based design program will let customers more easily access and coordinate projects.

— Associated Press

Hewlett-Packard credit rating cut by Standard & Poor’s

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) had its corporate credit and senior unsecured ratings cut to BBB+ from A by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, which cited the increased debt load caused by the acquisition of Autonomy.

The company’s “inconsistent” strategies and management turnover may also have raised risks, S&P said Wednesday in a statement. The outlook on the ratings is stable.

HP is trying to rebound from sluggish sales and the ouster of two chief executive officers over the past two years. Mylene Mangalindan, a spokeswoman for Palo Alto-based HP, declined to comment.

Intuitive Surgical paid $30.4 million in cash on March 5 for a more than three-decade-old building about two blocks from its current headquarters, which are on Kifer Road in Sunnyvale, according to Santa Clara County property records.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said in a letter sent Thursday to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone that the administration has failed to produce documents tied to Kushner and other officials despite requests from the committee since 2017.